Fernando Alonso Experienced 46Gs in His Huge Australian GP Crash

We knew that Fernando Alonso's crash at the Australian Grand Prix was bad, but we didn't know precisely how extreme it was. Now, thanks to footage from a rear-facing camera combined with accelerometer data, we know definitively that Alonso experienced 46Gs as his McLaren stuck into the grass and flipped following a collision with Haas F1's Esteban Gutierrez. To say that is was a miracle he walked away from this would be, frankly, an understatement.

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The data from the crash was published in a full report in the FIA's magazine, and reported on Wednesday by Motorsport. Alonso first experienced a peak lateral deceleration of 45G when he hit the wall after colliding with Gutierrez at around 190 mph. Then came his 46G deceleration just before the car rolled, followed with a 20G deceleration when he hit the wall and came to rest.

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The FIA says the fact that Alonso was able to walk away from the crash–albeit with cracked ribs that forced him out of the Bahrain Grand Prix–speaks to how safe his McLaren MP4-31 is. Of course, this crash represents an opportunity for the FIA to develop even more new safety technology for F1. It's possible that more high-speed cameras will be employed in the future, as well as biometric data recording.

Knowing what we know now, we should be thankful Alonso survived to race again.

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